Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek and Latin

This page translates Kern fragments 77-87 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group continues the Rhapsodic theogony's portrait of Phanes: fourfold and four-horned, winged with gold, bearing animal forms, both female and begetter, joined with noetic Love, named Metis and Erikepaios, visible to Night alone, and praised in the hymn to Protogonos.

Translation

Kern Fr. 77 — Fourfold and Four-Horned

Proclus says:

The Dionysian divinity is a tetrad, since the Orphic theology hymns the god countless times as four-bright and four-horned.

Kern Fr. 78 — Golden Wings

Hermias says:

Theology gives horses first to this one, Phanes, because he was the first to go forth from his own principles, and because in him marriage first comes to be. In general, to the one to whom theology gives active power, it also gives horses. To this same first lord Phanes it also gives wings:

being borne this way and that on golden wings.

In the same commentary, Hermias says that Plato was not the first to take over the charioteer and horses. Before him, the inspired poets did so: Homer, Orpheus, and Parmenides. With them the image is not random; they spoke in divine possession.

Kern Fr. 79 — Animal Heads

Proclus says:

Orpheus too indicates these things when he theologizes about Phanes. With him, the first god bears many animal heads:

letting loose deep bull-like roars, and the cry of the tawny lion.

He proceeds from the first-born egg, in which the living thing exists seminally. Plato saw this and called this greatest god the living being itself. For what difference is there between calling the hidden cause an egg and calling what shines forth from it a living being? What else could come from the egg of all things except a living being?

That egg was the offspring of Aether and Chaos. Aether is established according to the limit of the intelligibles, Chaos according to the unlimited. Aether is the root of all things; beneath Chaos there was no boundary.

Kern Fr. 80 — Phanes and Erikepaios

Pseudo-Nonnus says:

On Phanes and Erikepaios:

In the Orphic poems these two names were introduced, along with many others. Of them, Phanes is introduced as having a generative organ behind, near the buttocks. They say that he is the overseer of the life-generating power. Likewise, they say that Erikepaios is overseer of another power.

As for the phrase "the one who swallowed all the gods," it does not refer to Erikepaios but to Kronos. Kronos is said to have swallowed again the sons whom he begot, and then to have vomited up those whom he had swallowed. He is said to have swallowed a stone instead of Zeus, and when the stone went down, to have vomited them all up.

Kern Fr. 81 — Female and Begetter

Proclus says:

For this reason, the theologian fashions the most all-inclusive living being by setting around him the heads of a ram, a bull, a lion, and a dragon, and by putting the female and the male in him first, as in the first living being:

female and begetter, strong god Erikepaios,

says the theologian. Wings too first belong to him; and what need is there to say much? If he had his procession from the first-born egg, the myth also makes clear that he is the first living being, if the analogy is to be preserved. As the egg has already taken in the seminal cause of the living being, so the hidden order contains the whole intelligible in a unified way. And as the living being already has, in divided form, the things that were in the egg seminally, so this god brings the unspeakable and ungraspable nature of the first causes into manifestation.

Proclus also says that Phanes alone proceeds forth, and the same god is hymned as:

female and begetter.

Lactantius gives the hostile Christian parallel:

Unless, perhaps, we are to suppose, as Orpheus thought, that God is both male and female, because otherwise he could not beget unless he possessed the force of both sexes, as if he either coupled with himself or could not create without coupling.

Kern Fr. 82 — Eyeless Love

Proclus says:

The cosmos, then, needs neither eyes for seeing nor ears for hearing. It has this eyeless character according to the image of the intelligible god, to whom it is likened. For Orpheus says that that god has eyeless Love:

tending in his heart eyeless, swift Love.

So the whole is joined through Love to the things before it, seeing the beauty in them through the beauty within itself, and not seeing this by divided senses.

In another place Proclus says:

For this reason Orpheus named this god Phanes, because he brings the intelligible unities into manifestation. He assigned forms of living beings to him, since the first cause of intelligible living beings appeared in him. He assigned him many-formed ideas, since he first contains the intelligible ideas. By calling him the key of mind, he called him the lock of mind, because he bounds the whole intelligible essence and holds together intellectual life.

The craftsman of the universe depends on this so great a god. He is mind himself, but an intellectual mind as a distinct cause of mind. Therefore he is said to see the living being itself, for seeing is proper to the intellectual gods. But the theologian called the intelligible mind eyeless, saying of him:

tending Love.

For even his activity is intelligible. The craftsman, being mind, is not one of the participated minds; he must be craftsman of the wholes and able to see the living being itself. Being unparticipated, he is truly intellectual mind. Through simple intellection he is united with the intelligible; through varied intellection he hastens toward the generation of secondary things. Plato says that he sees the living being itself; Orpheus says that he leaps upon it and swallows it, once Night has shown it. For through Night, since she is both intelligible and intellectual, intellectual mind is joined to the intelligible.

Olympiodorus gives the same point briefly:

Orpheus too indicated this when he wished to say that Love is intelligible.

Kern Fr. 83 — Eros, Metis, and the Great Daimon

Proclus says:

It seems to me that Plato found in Orpheus this same god being called both Eros and daimon, and therefore he too hymned such a hymn for Eros. For when the theologian speaks of the intelligible mind, he says:

tender Love and reckless Metis,

and again:

the great daimon, always stepping upon the tracks.

Kern Fr. 84 — The Rain from Phanes

Damascius says:

This infinite, then, is what the gods have called the supercosmic paternal depth:

you who know, by thought, the supercosmic paternal depth.

And the theologian of the Greeks says the same, when he says that Phanes poured an unspeakable shower from the top of his own head.

Kern Fr. 85 — Metis, Seed of the Gods

Kern gives the composite verse:

revered daimon, Metis, bearing the renowned seed of the gods, whom the blessed ones on far Olympus called Phanes, first-born.

Proclus says:

The demiurgic cause is always assimilated to the paradigmatic cause, yet proceeds into multitude from intelligible union. These things have also been discussed elsewhere. That the living being itself rejoices in singleness is also made clear through the Orphic theologies. For the god according to the egg conceives, obviously a living being from himself; yet Orpheus calls him:

revered daimon,

Metis, bearing the renowned seed of the gods.

In another place Proclus says:

For this reason all ritual art rises as far as this order when it acts theurgically, since Orpheus says that this order was the first to be called by name by the other gods. For the light that proceeds from it made it knowable and nameable to the intellectual gods. He says:

Metis, bearing the renowned seed of the gods,

whom the blessed ones on far Olympus called Phanes, first-born.

Among the gods, naming and thinking are united, and both belong to them through their participation in the light that greatest Phanes sends forth to all.

Proclus also says:

There are also some abiding names among the gods, through which the lower gods call those before them, just as Orpheus says in the case of Phanes.

Damascius gives the parallel:

Metis, bearing the seed of the gods, famous Erikepaios.

And again:

If the first-born god in Orpheus, who bears the seed of all the gods, first leapt out and sprang up from the egg, what device is there for interpreting the egg as being, and then hymning the first-born god who leapt from being? How would it make sense to posit two substances, and lives likewise, or else minds and souls, some unparticipated and some participated, but all henads participated, when in them most of all the unparticipated should have appeared?

Proclus adds:

This same one, Metis, is continually named Dionysus, Phanes, and Erikepaios. Therefore all causes share in one another and are in one another. Thus the one who says that the craftsman contains the paradigm in himself speaks rightly in one respect, as divine Iamblichus arranges it, and so does the one who declares the paradigm to be craftsman, as noble Amelius does. The latter saw the demiurgic property preexisting in the paradigm; for there the first Zeus exists, and for this reason he made Phanes the craftsman. The former saw the paradigm in the craftsman; for Metis too was in this one, having been swallowed. For this reason he brought the paradigmatic cause into identity with the demiurgic cause.

Kern Fr. 86 — Night Alone Sees Protogonos

Hermias says:

Heaven is first lit up by the divine light of Phanes. For he says that Night was united with him:

No one looked on Protogonos with his eyes,

except holy Night alone. All the others

marveled when they saw, in Aether, an unhoped-for radiance,

such as shone from the immortal skin of Phanes.

Proclus cites the final verses:

They marveled when they saw, in Aether, an unhoped-for radiance:

such as shone from the immortal skin of Phanes.

Damascius gives the parallel:

The intelligible, then, is the first paradigm and the first thing proportionate to intellection. Therefore it is already form, and the most beautiful of things known by thought, not because it is first, but because it is especially manifest and shines most clearly. Orpheus indicates this Phanes when he says:

such as shone from the immortal skin of Phanes.

Kern Fr. 87 — Hymn to Protogonos

The Orphic hymn says:

Incense: myrrh.

I call Protogonos, two-natured, great, wandering through Aether,

egg-born, rejoicing in golden wings,

bull-voiced, origin of blessed gods and mortal humans,

who discovered the much-remembered paean of many rites,

unspeakable, hidden, rushing, all-shining shoot;

you drove away the gloomy mist from your eyes,

whirling everywhere through the world with the beat of your wings,

bringing pure and brilliant light; from this I call you Phanes,

and lord Priapus, and glancing Antauges.

But, blessed one, much-counseling, many-seeded, come rejoicing

to the holy rite, rich in varied forms, for the revealers of mysteries.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 77-87, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here include Proclus, Hermias, Pseudo-Nonnus, Lactantius, Damascius, Olympiodorus, and the Orphic hymn to Protogonos as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 77 — Proclus, on Plato's Republic

ἔστιν δὲ τετρὰς ἡ Διονυσιακὴ θεότης, τετραυγέα τετρακέρατον μυριάκις τῆς Ὀρφικῆς θεολογίας τὸν θεὸν ὑμνούσης.

Kern Fr. 78 — Hermias, on Plato's Phaedrus 246e

πρώτωι γὰρ τούτωι, τῶι Φάνητι, ἡ θεολογία παρέχει τοὺς ἵππους, ἅτε πρώτωι ἐκφοιτήσαντι τῶν οἰκείων ἀρχῶν, ἐπεὶ καὶ πρώτως ἐν τούτωι γίνεται γάμος· καὶ ἁπλῶς ὧι ἐνέργειαν δίδωσι, τούτωι καὶ ἵππους παρέχει. αὐτῶι δὲ τούτωι πρώτωι τῶι δεσπότηι Φάνητι καὶ πτέρυγας δίδωσι·

χρυσείαις πτερύγεσσι φορεύμενος ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα.

οὐ πρῶτος δὲ ὁ Πλάτων ἡνίοχον καὶ ἵππους παρέλαβεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸ αὐτοῦ οἱ ἔνθεοι τῶν ποιητῶν, Ὅμηρος, Ὀρφεύς, Παρμενίδης· ἀλλ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων μὲν ἅτε ἐνθέων ἄνευ αἰτίας εἴρηται· ἐνθουσιῶντες γὰρ ἔλεγον.

Kern Fr. 79 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus 30c-d

τοιαῦτα γὰρ περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ Ὀρφεύς ἐνδείκνυται περὶ τοῦ Φάνητος θεολογῶν. πρῶτος γοῦν ὁ θεὸς παρ᾽ αὐτῶι ζώιων κεφαλὰς φέρει πολλάς·

βρίμας ταυρείους ἀφιεὶς χαροποῦ τε λέοντος.

καὶ πρόεισιν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρωτογενοῦς ὠιοῦ, ἐν ὧι σπερματικῶς τὸ ζῶιόν ἐστιν, ὃ καὶ ὁ Πλάτων συνιδὼν αὐτοζῶιον προσηγόρευσε τὸν μέγιστον τοῦτον θεόν· τί γὰρ διαφέρει ἢ τὴν κρύφιον αἰτίαν ὠὸν καλεῖν ἢ τὸ ἐκφανὲν ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνης ζῶιον; τί γὰρ ἂν ἐξ ὠοῦ γένοιτο τῶν πάντων πλὴν ζώιου; ἦν δὲ τὸ ὠιὸν ἐκεῖνο τοῦ τε Αἰθέρος ἔγγονον καὶ τοῦ Χάους, ὧν ὁ μὲν κατὰ τὸ πέρας ἵδρυται τῶν νοητῶν, τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἄπειρον· ὁ μὲν γάρ ἐστι ῥίζωμα τῶν πάντων, τῶι δὲ οὐδὲν πεῖραρ ὑπῆν.

Kern Fr. 80 — Pseudo-Nonnus, on Gregory Nazianzen's First Oration Against Julian

Περὶ Φάνητος καὶ Ἠρικεπαίου.

ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς ποιήμασιν εἰσηνέχθη τὰ δύο ταῦτα ὀνόματα μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν· ὧν τὸν μὲν Φάνητα εἰσφέρει αἰδοῖον ἔχοντα ὀπίσω περὶ τὴν πυγήν. λέγουσι δὲ αὐτὸν ἔφορον εἶναι τῆς ζωιογόνου δυνάμεως· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἠρικαπαῖον λέγουσιν ἑτέρας ἔφορον εἶναι δυνάμεως. περὶ δὲ τοῦ ὁ πάντας καταπίνων θεούς, οὐ λέγει περὶ τοῦ Ἠρικεπαίου, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ Κρόνου. λέγεται γὰρ οὗτος, οὓς ἔτεκεν υἱούς, πάλιν καταπιεῖν, καὶ ἐμέσαι οὓς ἤδη κατέπιε. λέγεται λίθον καταπιεῖν ἀντὶ τοῦ Διὸς καὶ τοῦ λίθου κατελθόντος ἐμέσαι πάντας.

Kern Fr. 81 — Proclus, Lactantius, and related witnesses

διὸ καὶ ὁλικώτατον ζῶιον ὁ θεολόγος ἀναπλάττει κριοῦ καὶ ταύρου καὶ λέοντος καὶ δράκοντος αὐτῶι περιτιθεὶς κεφαλάς, καὶ ἐν αὐτῶι πρώτῶι τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν ὡς ζώιωι πρώτωι·

θῆλυς καὶ γενέτωρ κρατερὸς θεὸς Ἠρικεπαῖος,

φησὶν ὁ θεολόγος· αὐτῶι δὲ καὶ αἱ πτέρυγες πρώτον καὶ τί δεῖ πολλὰ λέγειν; εἰ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ πρωτογενοῦς ὠιοῦ τὴν πρόοδον ἔσχε, δηλοῖ καὶ ὅδε ὁ μῦθος, ὅτι τὸ πρώτιστον ζῶιόν ἐστιν, εἴπερ τὴν ἀναλογίαν προσήκει φυλάττειν· ὡς γὰρ τὸ ὠιὸν τὴν σπερματικὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ ζῷου προείληφεν, οὕτως ὁ κρύφιος διάκοσμος ἑνοειδῶς περιέχει πᾶν τὸ νοητόν, καὶ ὡς τὸ ζῶιόν ἤδη διηιρημένως ἔχει ὅσα ἦν ἐν τῶι ὠιῶι σπερματικῶς, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ θεὸς ὅδε προάγει τὸ ἄρρητον καὶ ἄληπτον τῶν πρῶτων αἰτίων εἰς τὸ ἐμφανές.

θῆλυς καὶ γενέτωρ.

Lactantius:

nisi forte existimabimus deum, sicut Orpheus putavit, et marem esse et feminam, quod aliter generare non quiverit, nisi haberet vim sexus utriusque, quasi aut ipse secum coierit aut sine coitu non potuerit procreare.

Kern Fr. 82 — Proclus and Olympiodorus

οὔτε ἄρα ὀμμάτων δεῖται πρὸς τὴν ὅρασιν οὔτε ὤτων πρὸς τὴν ἀκοήν, καὶ ἔχει καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἀνόμματον κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ νοητοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸς ὃν ἀπείκασται· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνον ἀνόμματον Ἔρωτά φησὶν ἔχειν Ὀρφέα·

ποιμαίνων πραπίδεσσιν ἀνόμματον ὠκὺν ἔρωτα.

οὕτω δὴ οὖν καὶ τὸ πᾶν συνῆπται δι᾽ ἔρωτος τοῖς πρὸ αὐτοῦ, τὸ ἐν ἐκείνοις κάλλος διὰ τοῦ ἐν ἑαυτῶι βλέπον, τοῦτο δὲ οὐ μερισταῖς αἰσθήσεσιν ὁρῶν.

διὸ δὴ καὶ Ὀρφεύς Φάνητά τε τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον προσηγόρευσεν ὡς ἐκφαίνοντα τὰς νοητὰς ἑνάδας καὶ ζώιων αὐτῶι μορφὰς ἀνέθηκεν ὡς ἐν αὐτῶι τῆς πρώτης αἰτίας τῶν νοητῶν ζώιων ἐκφανείσης καὶ ἰδέας πολυειδεῖς ὡς τῶν νοητῶν ἰδεῶν πρώτως περιληπτικῶι, καὶ κληῖδα νόου προσειπὼν κλεῖν αὐτὸν ἐκάλεσε τοῦ νοῦ, διότι περατοῖ πᾶσαν τὴν νοητὴν οὐσίαν καὶ συνέχει νοερὰν ζωιήν. πρὸς δὴ τοῦτον τὸν τοσοῦτον θεὸν ὁ δημιουργὸς ἀνήρτηται τοῦ παντός, νοῦς μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς ὤν, ὥσπερ εἴπομεν πρότερον, ἀλλὰ νοερὸς νοῦς ὡς νοῦ διαφερόντως αἴτιος. διὸ καὶ ὁρᾶν λέγεται τὸ αὐτοζῶιον· ἴδιον γὰρ τὸ ὁρᾶν τῶν νοερῶν θεῶν, ἐπεὶ τόν γε νοητὸν νοῦν καὶ ἀνόμματον ὁ θεολόγος προσηγόρευσε· λέγει γοῦν περὶ αὐτοῦ· ποιμαίνων --- ἔρωτα, ἔστι γὰρ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ ἐνέργημα νοητόν. νοῦς δὲ ὁ δημιουργὸς ὢν οὐκ ἔστί τῶν μετεχομένων, ἵνα τών ὅλων ἦι δημιουργὸς καὶ ἵνα δύνηται πρὸς τὸ αὐτοζῶιον ὁρᾶν· ἀμέθεκτος δὲ ὢν ὄντως νοερός ἐστι νοῦς, καὶ διὰ μὲν τῆς ἁπλῆς νοήσεως συνήνωται πρὸς τὸ νοητόν, διὰ δὲ τῆς ποικίλης εἰς ἀπογέννησιν σπεύδει τῶν δευτέρων. ἐκείνην μὲν αὐτοῦ τὴν νόησιν ὅρασιν προσείρηκεν ὁ λόγος, ὡς διὰ τῆς ἁπλῆς νοήσεως προϊοῦσαν καὶ εἰς ἀπογέννησιν τῶν δημιουργικῶν ἔργων προχωροῦσαν. καὶ ὁ μὲν Πλάτων ὁρᾶν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ αὐτοζῶιον εἶπεν, ὁ δὲ Ὀρφεὺς καὶ ἐπιπηδᾶν αὐτῶι καὶ καταπίνειν δειξάσης μέντοι τῆς Νυκτός· ἀπὸ γὰρ ταύτης νοητῆς οὔσης ἅμα καὶ νοερᾶς ὁ νοερὸς νοῦς συνάπτεται πρὸς τὸ νοητόν.

ὃ καὶ Ὀρφεὺς ἐσημήνατο, νοητὸν βουλόμενος εἰπεῖν τὸν Ἔρωτα.

Kern Fr. 83 — Proclus, on Plato's First Alcibiades

καὶ μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ὁ Πλάτων εὑρὼν παρ᾽ Ὀρφεῖ τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον θεὸν καὶ Ἔρωτα καὶ δαίμονα ἀποκαλούμενον, ἀνυμνῆσαι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἔρωτος τὸν τοιοῦτον ὕμνον· περὶ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ νοητοῦ νοῦ λέγων ὁ θεολόγος

ἁβρὸς Ἔρως --- καὶ Μῆτις ἀτάσθαλος

καὶ πάλιν·

οἶσιν ἐπεμβεβαὼς δαίμων μέγας αἰὲν ἐπ᾽ ἴχνη.

Kern Fr. 84 — Damascius, On First Principles

τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἄπειρον οἵ τε θεοὶ κεκλήκασιν ὑπέρκοσμον βυθόν·

οἳ τὸν ὑπέρκοσμον πατρικὸν βυθὸν ἴστε νοοῦντες.

καὶ ὁ Ἑλλήνων ἔτι θεολόγος· ὄμβρον ἀθέσφατον καταχεῦαι τὸν Φάνητα λέγων ἀπὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἄκρας κορυφῆς.

Kern Fr. 85 — Proclus and Damascius

δαίμονα σεμνόν, Μῆτιν σπέρμα φέροντα θεών κλυτόν, ὅν τε Φάνητα πρωτόγονον μάκαρες κάλεον κατά μακρόν Ὄλυμπον.

ἀεὶ ἄρα τὸ δημιουργικὸν αἴτιον ὁμοιοῦται μὲν τῶι παραδειγματικῶι, πρόεισι δὲ εἰς πλῆθος ἀπὸ τῆς νοητῆς ἑνώσεως. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις. ὅτι δὲ τὸ αὐτοζῶιον μονότητι χαίρει, δεδήλωται καὶ διὰ τῶν Ὀρφικῶν θεολογιῶν· κύει γὰρ ὁ κατὰ τὸ ὠιὸν θεός, δηλονότι ζῶιον ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, καλεῖ δὲ ὅμως αὐτὸν

δαίμονα σεμνόν,

Μῆτιν σπέρμα φέροντα θεόκλυτον.

καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ τελεστικὴ πᾶσα μέχρι ταύτης ἄνεισι τῆς τάξεως ἐνεργοῦσα θεουργικῶς, ἐπεὶ καὶ Ὀρφεὺς πρώτην ταύτην ὀνόματί φησιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων καλεῖσθαι θεῶν· τὸ γὰρ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς προϊὸν φῶς γνωστὴν αὐτὴν τοῖς νοεροῖς καὶ ὀνομαστὴν ἀπέφηνεν. λέγει δ᾽ οὕτως·

Μῆτιν σπέρμα φέροντα θεῶν κλυτόν,

ὅν τε Φάνητα πρωτόγονον μάκαρες κάλεον κατὰ μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον·

ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν θεῶν ἥνωται τό τε ὀνομάζειν τοῦτο καὶ τὸ νοεῖν, καὶ ἀμφότερα διὰ τὴν τοῦ φωτὸς αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχει μετουσίαν, ὃ προΐεται πᾶσιν ὁ μέγιστος Φάνης.

ἔστιν δ᾽ οὖν καὶ μένοντά τινα ὀνόματα ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς, δι᾽ ὧν οἱ καταδεέστεροι τοὺς προτέρους καλοῦσιν, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Φάνητός φησιν Ὀρφεύς.

Μῆτιν σπέρμα φέροντα θεῶν, κλυτὸν Ἠρικεπαῖον.

εἰ δὲ ὁ παρ᾽ Ὀρφεῖ πρωτόγονος θεὸς ὁ πάντων σπέρμα φέρων τῶν θεῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὠιοῦ πρῶτος ἐξέθορε καὶ ἀνέδραμε, τίς μηχανὴ τὸ μὲν ὠιὸν ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὸ ὄν, τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄντος ἐκθορόντα πρωτόγονον θεὸν ἀνυμνεῖν; πῶς δὲ ἔχει λόγον οὐσίας μὲν διττὰς ὑποτίθεσθαι, καὶ ζωὰς ὁμοίως, εἰ δὲ μή, νόας τε καὶ ψυχάς, τοὺς μὲν ἀμεθέκτους, τοὺς δὲ μεθεκτούς, ἑνάδας δὲ πάσας μεθεκτάς, ἐν αἷς μάλιστα τὸ ἀμέθεκτον ἔπρεπεν.

αὐτὸς δὲ, ὁ Μῆτις, ὁ Διόνυσος καὶ Φάνης καὶ Ἠρικεπαῖος συνεχῶς ὀνομάζεται. πάντα ἄρα μετείληχεν ἀλλήλων τὰ αἴτια καὶ ἐν ἀλλήλοις ἐστίν, ὥστε καὶ ὁ τὸν δημιουργὸν λέγων ἐν αὐτῶι τὸ παράδειγμα περιέχειν ἔστιν ὅπηι φησὶν ὀρθῶς, καθάπερ ὁ θεῖος Ἰάμβλιχος διατάττεται, καὶ ὁ τὸ παράδειγμα δημιουργὸν ἀποφαινόμενος, ὥσπερ ὁ γενναῖος Ἀμέλιος. ἑώρα γὰρ ὃ μὲν ἐν τῶι παραδείγματι δημιουργικὸν ἰδίωμα προϋπάρχον· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ὁ πρώτιστός ἐστι Ζεὺς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐποίει τὸν Φάνητα δημιουργόν· ὃ δὲ ἐν τῶι δημιουργῶι τὸ παράδειγμα· ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἐν τούτωι καταποθεὶς ὁ Μῆτις· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰς ταὐτὸν ἦγε τῶι δημιουργικῶι τὸ παραδειγματικὸν αἴτιον.

Kern Fr. 86 — Hermias, Proclus, and Damascius

καὶ πρῶτος καταλάμπεται ὁ οὐρανὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου φωτὸς τοῦ Φάνητος· τὴν γὰρ Νύκτα ἡνῶσθαι αὐτῶι φησι·

Πρωτόγονόν γε μὲν οὔτις ἐσέδρακεν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν,

εἰ μὴ Νὺξ ἱερὴ μούνη· τοὶ δ᾽ ἄλλοι ἅπαντες

θαύμαζον καθορῶντες ἐν αἰθέρι φέγγος ἄελπτον,

τοῖον ἀπέστραπτε χροὸς ἀθανάτοιο Φάνητος.

θαύμαζον καθορῶντες ἐν αἰθέρι φέγγος ἄελπτον·

τοῖον ἀπέστιλβε χροὸς ἀθανάτοιο Φάνητος.

νοητὸν ἄρα ἐστὶν τὸ πρῶτον παράδειγμα καὶ τὸ πρῶτον τῆι νοήσει σύμμετρον· διὸ καὶ εἶδος ἤδη καὶ κάλλιστον τῶν νοουμένων, οὐχ ὅτι πρῶτον, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι μάλιστα ἐκφανὲς καὶ στίλβον ἐναργέστατα, καὶ τὸν Φάνητα αὐτοῦ ἐνδεικνύμενον

τοῖον ἀπέστιλβε χροὸς ἀθανάτοιο Φάνητος

φησὶν Ὀρφεύς.

Kern Fr. 87 — Orphic Hymn 6, To Protogonos

θυμίαμα, σμύρναν.

Πρωτογόνον καλέω διφυῆ, μέγαν, αἰθερόπλαγκτον,

ὠιογενῆ, χρυσέαισιν ἀγαλλόμενον πτερύγεσσιν,

ταυροβόαν, γένεσιν μακάρων θνητῶν τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων,

ὅς τε πολύμνηστον, πολυόργιον εὕρηκε παιᾶν

ἄρρητον, κρύφιον. ῥοιζήτορα, παμφαὲς ἔρνος·

ὄσσων ὃς σκοτόεσσαν ἀπημαύρωσας ὁμίχλην,

πάντῃ δινηθεὶς πτερύγων ῥιπαῖς κατὰ κόσμον·

λαμπρὸν ἄγων φάος ἁγνόν, ἀφ᾽ οὗ σε Φάνητα κικλήσκω,

ἠδὲ Πρίηπον ἄνακτα καὶ Ἀνταύγην ἑλίκωπον.

ἀλλά, μάκαρ, πολύμητι, πολυσπόρε, βαῖνε γεγηθὼς

ἐς τελετὴν ἁγίαν πολυποίκιλον ὀργιοφάνταις.